Apple / Kale / Raisin Salad

This is a salad - but i will also eat it as a dessert.

Ingredients

• 1 apple, cored and chopped
• 1 bunch kale, chopped
• 1 C raisins
• 1 to 2 T honey (adjust as you like it)
• 2 T lime juice
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/8 t pepper
• 1/8 t salt
• 1/4 C plain yogurt

Preparation

1. Core and chop the apple. Halve the cored apple vertically, then chop each half 4 x 4 - 32 pieces.
2. Wash the kale - then chop into thin ribbons, and cross cut into pieces sized similar to the apple chunks.
3. Mix honey, lime juice, olive oil, pepper, and salt. Pour over kale, and toss carefully.
4. Add the chopped apple and the raisins, and mix well.
5. Chill for an hour or so.
6. Toss again.
7. Serve.

Cold Ramen Noodles

Most people cook Ramen Noodles. In hot weather, cold noodles are very satisfying - and can be “cooked” without heat.

This is great, for a planned emergency . When using all dried ingredients, this can be made any time when needed.

>> See it done!


Ingredients

• 1/2 t Curry Powder.
• 1/8 t Ground Garlic.
• 1/2 t Ground Ginger.
• 1 T Dried Chopped Onion - or 1/4 C Fresh Onion, minced.
• 1/2 t Paprika.
• 1 C Water.
• 1 Package Of Ramen Noodles (Shrimp, for me).
• 1/4 C Cottage Cheese.
• 1 splash of Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce.
• Sprinkle of chopped chives.

Preparation

1. Combine spices, in a large cereal bowl.
2. Mix in onion (chopped or fresh).
3. Open Ramen Noodles package. Separate the noodles, flavour, oil, and vegs packets (Note that packets included will vary)..
4. Mix flavour and vegs packets (as included) into the spices bowl.
5. Crumble noodles into the bowl, mix with spices etc.
6. Add water, mix with contents.
7. Refrigerate noodles mixture, to marinate 2 - 4 hours.
8. Remove from refrigerator, when marinated.
9. Mix in cottage cheese, oil packet (as included), chili sauce.
10. Serve promptly.

See it Done!

Add flavour packet, onion, spices to a large cereal bowl.

Crush Ramen noodles. I use a plastic bag.

Add ramen noodles and water, to the bowl. Mix.

Cover, and marinate.

Mix in chili sauce and cottage cheese, once the noodles have expanded.

Garnish with chopped chives.

Cold Ramen Salad

Continuing my exploration of the humble Ramen soup mix, I find that, given the right spices, it makes a rather satisfying meal.

Ingredients

• i package Shrimp / your choice flavour Ramen soup
• 1/16 t cayenne pepper
• 1/4 t curry powder
• 1/4 t fish oil (opt)
• 1/8 t garlic flakes
• 1/4 t ginger
• 1/8 t mint
• 1/4 t onion flakes
• 1/4 t sesame seeds
• 1/8 t tarragon
• 1/2 t tomato sauce (opt)
• 1/16 t tumeric
• 6 or so slices of cucumber, quartered
• 1/2 stalk green onion, chopped
• 1/4 bu parsley, chopped
• 1 roma tomato, chopped
• 1 handful mixed salad greens

Preparation

1. Crumble noodles, into bowl.
2. Mix noodle flavour packet, dry herbs, spices, dried vegs, noodles.
3. Add salad greens, mix again.
4. Add boiling water to cover, stir, let it cook.
5. When salad greens are just slightly tender, it's ready.
6. Drain excess liquid, set aside.
7. Add fresh vegs, toss lightly.
8. Decorate with soy sauce, sweet chili sauce (Mae Ploy).
9. Serve cold, with sourdough bread, Thai tea.

---

Continuing my experimentation, I observed that ramen noodles do not always require boiling water. Given enough soaking, 15 minutes of soaking in cold water will produce chewy ("al dente") noodles - and a tasty meal.

The longer you soak the noodles, the more water is absorbed - and the less to be drained and set aside.

The idea of adding enough water ("to cover") simply ensures that the noodles on the top get the chance to soften. Water temperature may or may not be important. YMMV.

---

Black Bean Salad

This is a quick variation on the ever popular three bean salad - with a kick.

Ingredients

• 1 can black beans (rinsed & drained)
• i can corn (drained)
• 1 red pepper (diced)
• 1 bunch cilantro (chopped finely)
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 fresh lime
• salt & pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Mix dressing.
2. Toss veg mixture.
3. Pour dressing over vegs.
4. Toss again.
5. Chill in refrigerator, if you can wait.

Thai Style Peanut Sauce

Thai Style peanut sauce is a tasty addition to many quick meals. I keep a pint in the refrigerator, for anything that needs a kick.

Ingredients

• 1/4 C peanut butter
• 1 serrano chili pepper, carefully and finely minced (**)
• 2 T Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 t brown sugar
• 1 T sesame paste (Tahini)
• 2 T sesame or vegetable oil
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 t ginger powder
• 1/4 C yogurt - plain, unsweetened

Preparation

1. Mix all ingredients, adding chili sauce, soy sauce, oil, and lime juice a bit at a time, and to taste, until the mixture is thin enough to pour.
2. Make it thin, to marinate cucumber slices - medium thick, to use as salad dressing - or really thick, to use as dip for sourdough bread, or taco chips.
3. The one rule is that you should make it in quantity, because it will be eaten in quantity.

Inspired by Season With Spice: Easy Thai Peanut Sauce - and limited by reality (and what I had in my kitchen).

(**) Follow Safety Precautions when you prepare this, please.

Christmas Jello Salad

I imagine the flavours - and colours - could be varied, too. Maybe lime gelatin instead of strawberry, for 1/2 the recipe.

• 2 C boiling water
  
• 12 oz Strawberry gelatin
  
• 32 oz frozen strawberries
  
• 20 oz can crushed pineapple
  
• 16 oz sour cream
  

1. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water.
   
2. Add strawberries, cut into small cubes to help unfreeze faster.
   
3. Dump in pineapple.
   
4. Work quickly before gelatin thickens.
   
5. Pour half of gelatin mixture into a 16" x 2" flat pan.
   
6. Spread sour cream over top.
   
7. Pour other half of gelatin mixture over sour cream.
   
8. Refrigerate.
   

Black-Eyed Pea Salad

1 large tomato, seeded, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
6 fresh mushroom, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 16 oz cans black-eyed peas, rinsed, drained
1 cup diced celery
1 4 oz jar diced pimento

• Combine all ingredients in large bowl.
  
• Toss w/18 oz bottle Italian dressing.
  
• Sprinkle w/cooked, crumbled bacon (about 4 slices) and half cup sliced green onion.
  

Cucumber / Yogurt Dressing / Dip

Cucumber / yogurt is completely healthy - and the garlic makes it even more so. Give me a bowl of this - and a bag of chips - and that's my evening.

(Photos in progress)

Ingredients [I double the quantity, to make the effort worthwhile.]

• 1 1/2 t [1 T] minced garlic
• 3T [3/8 C] olive oil
• 2T [1/4 C] vinegar
• 2C [1 Pint] yogurt, plain fat-free
• 1T [2 T] dried mint
• 1 [2] cucumber, chopped

Preparation

1. Combine garlic, olive oil, vinegar in large bowl, mix well.
2. Add yogurt, mix well.
3. Clean the mint well, and crumble it. Try and remove all stems and sticks, if any are found. Add it to the yogurt mixture, and mix.
4. Add cucumber, mix again.
5. Chill in refrigerator, for an hour or so (if you can wait)

Variations

• Slice the cucumber - serve as salad (this is the original Greek recipe).
• Chop the cucumber coarsely, makes a good salad dressing.
• Chop the cucumber finely, makes a good dip for pita bread, or taco chips.

California Taboulli

Tabouli (Taboulli) is completely healthy, all ingredients are beneficial to your body in some way or another.

Ingredients

• 1 C Bulgar wheat / Couscous
• 1 C boiling water
• 1 bu green onion
• 1 cucumber
• 1 bu parsley
• 2 - 3 tomatoes, nice and firm
• Mint - carefully chosen
• 1/2 C olive oil
• 1/2 C lemon juice
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1/4 t salt

Preparation
Hand chop all ingredients, the flavour and texture will make it worth the inconvenience.

1. Pour Bulgar wheat / Couscous into air tight refrigerator container.
2. Pour boiling water onto the wheat, swish around so all wheat gets nice and well mixed with water. Cover and let sit for 1/2 hour or so, until wheat is well cooked, and dry.
3. Wash and thoroughly dry parsley, onions, tomatoes, mint.
4. Separate parsley flowers from stalks, chop flowers well.
5. Chop onions well.
6. Chop tomatoes as small as you can get without being mushy.
7. Chop mint (sorted, and cleaned) as small as you can get.
8. Peel, then chop cucumber as small as you can get.
9. Fluff cooked wheat up, scrape off bottom of dish, combine vegetables with wheat, mix well.
10. Combine lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper in shaker, shake well, pour over salad mixture, mix well.
11. Cover air tight, and refrigerate.
12. Keep it cool, and eat it fast. Fortunately, eating it fast is not hard - or unhealthy.

Buying, Extracting, and Sorting Mint

Mint is the key ingredient in the tabouilli, so get the best possible.
Grade the mint in the store before buying:

• A Grade: If you get to the herb counter and smell the mint before you see it, you have A Grade. Buy 1 bunch.
• A- Grade: If the air smells of it as you pick it up, it's A-. Buy 2 bunches.
• B Grade: If you pick it up, and your fingers stink from it, it's B. Buy 2 of the best bunches.
• B- Grade: If you wave it around, and it smells sort of good, it's B-. Buy the 2 absolutely best bunches on the shelf. Then go to another store, and look for some better too. Buy at least 1 more bunch at another store.
• C Grade: Anything less is C Grade. If this is the second (or third store) buy 2 or 3 bunches of C Grade, and prepare to sort leaves. If this is the first store, buy the 1 absolutely best bunch, then go elsewhere for another 2 bunches.
• If you cannot get better than C grade, and it looks like you may have to buy 4 or 5 bunches and sort them, maybe it's not a good week for Tabouilli. Unless your audience is set on having Tabouilli, maybe you should consider another offering, like Cabbage / Mushroom / Shrimp / Tofu Salad. Don't serve substandard Tabouilli.

Bag the mint immediately, before putting it in the shopping cart. I carry a couple 1 gallon zip loc storage bags when I go shopping, and squeeze all the air out of the bag, before sealing it. Obviously you have to prepared to tell the cashier what it is. If there is a product tag on the mint, try to bag so the tag is visible without opening.

When you get home, separate and sort the leaves. Break the leaves off, cleanly, from the stalks. The best leaves are 2 - 3" long, and crisp. Not limp, not thick and heavy. Thin and crisp. You will want the best leaves, and you will want enough to fill a 2 quart mixing bowl to the top, without being packed down - just tossed in while sorting.

If you bought 3 or 4 bunches, sort into 2 bowls, put the not so good leaves into a second bowl. If you don't get enough top quality leaves to fill the first bowl, add not so good leaves, but try to fill 1 1/2 - 2 bowls, total, with those.

Wash the leaves, gently, in cold running water. Drain well, then spin dry in a salad spinner. Repeatedly spin, until no water comes out. The dryer the better.

Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 7 - 8 medium potatoes
• 3 eggs, hardboiled and chopped
• 1 small onion / 1 bu green onion, minced
• 2 stalks celery, minced
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 T pickle relish or Olive water
• 1 T garlic pickle water
• 1 T mustard
• 1/2 t mustard powder
• 1/2 t cajun hot sauce
• 1 t dill weed

Preparation

1. Chop potatoes - 1/4" cubes.
2. Cook in microwave oven on high 3 minutes, stir well, repeatedly cook 3 minutes then stir, until potatoes start to crumble when being stirred. Then microwave one more 3 minute period. Should be really soft yet still have shape.
3. Cool potatoes in refrigerator until potatoes are cool.
4. Mix potatoes, eggs, onion, celery.
5. Mix sauce, pour over potato mix, mix well.
6. Refrigerate again - overnite (best flavour) if you can wait.

California Hummous

Or is it hummus? homos? Who cares??!!




Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 cans garbanzo beans
• 2/3 C water
• 1 fresh lime, well squeezed
• 3 T Tahini
• 1/4 t oregano
• 1/4 t parsley flakes
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1/2 t cumin
• Trace of olive oil
• Pinch of parsley flakes, crushed

Preparation

1. Peel and dump garlic whole, into food processor.
2. Process on high until garlic is well minced, and pieces stick all over inside of bowl. Scrape pieces off sides.
3. Drain, then wash garbanzo beans, then drain again.
4. Puree garbanzo beans and garlic, mixing water while pureeing.
5. Add lime juice and tahini, blend again.
6. Add oregano, parsley, pepper, cumin; blend thoroughly.
7. Dump puree into large serving bowl.
8. Drizzle olive oil over top, crush and sprinkle parsley flakes on top.
9. Serve with chips or pita bread, or as sauce over baked potatoes.

Mango Salad

Ingredients

• 3 - 4 large mangoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (** Follow safety precautions)
• 1/2 bunch cliantro leaves, chopped
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped

Preparation

1. See Slicing a Mango, to learn how to prepare your mangoes.
2. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango, mix well as chopping mango.
3. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango and jalapeno, mix extremely well.
4. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango, jalapeno, and cilantro, mix well.
5. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango, jalapeno, cilantro, onion, and pepper, mix well.
6. Pour mix into serving bowl, put inside refrigerator container.
7. Refrigerate a few hours.
8. Sample once - let it chill. You can eat the skin, and suck the seeds while you clean up the remainder.
9. Enjoy over cuban style black beans, and sesame mint rice.

Cabbage / Shrimp Salad

Shrimp are weird little things. I wonder who first considered eating one - but this is one tasty result of that venture.




Ingredients

• 1/4 C sesame seeds
• 1 C almonds, sliced or slivered
• 1 head cabbage, chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
• 2 packages Ramen noodles, shrimp flavour
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 C vegetable oil
• 3/8 C vinegar
• 1/4 t ground ginger
• 1/8 t paprika
• 1/8 t black pepper
• 1/16 t cayenne pepper
• 1 lb salad shrimp
• 1 lb tofu, clopped into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced

Preparations

1. Spread sesame seeds and almonds on baking sheet, toast in oven at 350 for 5 minutes or so, until golden brown. Let cool.
2. Mix cabbage, onions, almond / sesame seeds.
3. Mix sugar, oil, vinegar, flavour packets from Ramen noodles, ginger, paprika, pepper. Pour over cabbage etc. Mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
4. Thaw and drain shrimp. Mix shrimp, tofu, and / or mushrooms into cabbage etc.
5. Crumble Ramen noodles. Mix noodles into salad, just before serving. Mix well.

Bean Salad

This is a very versatile recipe. It can be a side dish, or a main course. You can add or subtract ingredients, easily - just use a properly chosen container to marinate the beans - mix / stir frequently, for several days, for best flavour.

If you make this regularly, you'll want to buy juice in 128 oz plastic bottles. You can marinate the salad in a used empty bottle, cut the bottle open open to remove the salad, when done - then discard the bottle. A funnel, large enough to pass beans easily, yet small enough to fit inside the mouth of the bottle, will be very useful when pouring beans into the bottle.

Here, I substituted 8 oz of sliced mushrooms for the green and wax beans.

This is the veggies, marinating in the bottle. See the vivid colours? Each colour represents a different flavour.


Ingredients

• 2 Can black beans
• 2 Can garbanzo beans
• 1 Can green beans
• 2 Can pinto beans
• 2 Can red beans
• 1 Can wax beans
• 8 oz mushrooms - "bits and pieces", or "sliced".
• 1 onion (red is best), or 1 bunch green onion, diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
• 1 sweet pepper (green or red), or 1 each, diced
• 1/2 C oil
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C vinegar
• dash pepper
• dash salt
• dash paprika and / or tumeric

Preparation

1. Drain and rinse beans thoroughly. Use a very large pot, and lots of water.
2. Mix beans, and other veggies. Make sure that all beans and veggie pieces will fit through the funnel or neck of the bottle. Dice as necessary.
3. Put veggie mixture in a bottle or marinating container. You may need more than 1 container.
4. Mix dressing mixture (oil, sugar, vinegar, spices) thoroughly.
5. Pour dressing mixture into marinating container(s).
6. Marinate 12 - 48 hours (longer is better). Mix or turn over the container, regularly. 1/2 of the vegetables should be draining, as the other 1/2 is soaking, constantly. This works best, with the bottle on its side, and turned end over end - not rotated.